Page 57

“Not immediately.”

I give a humorless laugh.

“First, he offered me a choice. Return the woman to eternal sleep and retain my dominion, or defy him and share her punishment.”

“What did you choose?”

I meet her gaze.

“I chose her freedom.”

Calla stares at me.

“What happened to the woman?”

“I managed to send her into the waking world before he struck me down.”

“Did she survive?”

“I do not know.” My voice roughens. “The last thing I remember is seeing her open her eyes.”

Calla presses her lips together.

“And then?”

“Stone.”

Silence settles between us.

“Three thousand years,” I say. “Three thousand years of hearing the world move around me without being able to join it. I could not speak. Could not move. Could not feel the sun against my skin.”

I glance at her.

“Until you.”

She looks down at our joined hands.

Then asks the question I should have anticipated.

“Did you love her?”

I blink.

“The priestess?”

She nods.

I study her face.

There is no accusation in her expression.

Only curiosity.

And something else.

Something that makes me want to pull her into my arms and never release her.

“No,” I say.